Researchers Develop Star-Based Navigation System for Drones in GPS-Denied Environments

The lightweight, low-cost system uses celestial triangulation to enable drones to navigate without emitting detectable signals.

Engineers at the University of South Australia have created a prototype navigation system for drones that uses visual data from stars instead of GPS.
The system integrates a Raspberry Pi 5, a monochrome sensor, and a wide-angle lens to capture and analyze star positions for location estimation.
This approach is resistant to GPS jamming, as it relies on passive celestial navigation rather than radio frequency signals.
Initial tests demonstrated the system's ability to estimate a drone's position with an accuracy of 4 kilometers, though improvements are still needed for greater precision.
The technology has potential applications in defense, environmental monitoring, and long-range operations over oceans or in remote areas.